Saturday 12th September
Set off at 6am for the Lake District with Gilly, maisey and poppy, stopped at Windermere for a coffee and look round, arrived around 1:30pm at the Black Bull In, Coniston.
Checked in and went for a stroll down to the lake, made famous by the Campbell water speed records in bluebird. Evening meal at the inn.
Sunday 13th September
Nice cooked breakfast, followed by a long walk close to the Old Man of Coniston. Short trip to brathay hall and back to Coniston for a roast dinner. Later walk down to the lake and then chill out.
Monday 14th September
Travelled to Killin from Lake District, stopped off at Gretna Green, met Ali and Chris enroute.
House very nice on 3 levels.
Quick walk past the water falls, takeaway for evening meal.
Tuesday 15th September
Damp start, played scrabble until lunchtime.
Set off to do the Ben Vorlich mountain, took 4hours 20 minutes, tough climb and very tough coming down. 985m high. Warm going up but cloudy and windy at the top.
Sore feet!
Pizza for dinner. Very tired
Wednesday 16th
Road trip out to see the Glenfinnan Viaduct, went in A&Cs van and stopped off at Fort William. Carried on to Glenfinnan and managed to plan photoing the steam train going over. Impressive sight.
Pie, chips, peas and gravy for dinner.
Cloudy but dry
Thursday 17th
Cancelled the planned ascent of Ben Lomond due to sore legs. Went in C&As van again to Lake Katrine where there was a nice flat walk.
Stunning scenery with blue skies.
Stopped in Callander on the way home.
Girls prepared a lovely picky tea
Friday 18th
Packed up and left Killin around 9am to head for our final destination Buckden in the Yorkshire Dales. Left the motorway early to drive through Yorkshire, with a quick stop at the Eden Viaducts. Stunning countryside and some massive climbs which were a real challenge for the clutch worn Audi.
Arrived at the Buck Inn late afternoon. Quick walk along the river. Dinner at the inn which was very nice.
Buckden is very close to the Buttertubs Pass used in the Tour of Yorkshire.
Saturday 19th
Full English before setting off on the road trip home, left at 9:40 and drove through the Yorkshire Dales and into the Peak District.
On the way we stopped at Skipton which was actually quite a nice place with canal, market and castle. We carried on and meandered between Manchester & Leeds through the outskirts of Bradford which was very ethnic.
We carried on to the Peak District and stopped at Bakewell for lunch, very nice place but extremely busy.
Onward journey home to get back around 8:30pm.
Lovely trip and blown away by the beauty of each location. All locations are perfect for cycling trips, although the climbs of the Dales & Peak District were more savage and relentless in the Peak District.
In particular the Dales and Peak District were extremely busy with cyclists.
iPhone image gallery below;
